Former Duke of York’s disastrous ‘can’t sweat’ alibi planned in palace meeting days before Newsnight interview
British journalist Emily Maitlis grilled the former Duke of York for an hour on November 14, 2019, over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after six months of negotiations for a TV interview with the man formerly known as Prince Andrew and his private secretary.
49 minutes of BBC footage news night The film that was eventually released was such a disaster that Andrew was forced to step back from public life. But Maitlis has now revealed that one of Andrew’s more ludicrous alibis – so infamous he was mocked on the front pages of British newspapers when he was arrested in February – was actually pre-planned.
“I had two meetings at the palace before the meeting, and the strangest thing was that at the second meeting I met Andrew and met him. [Princess] Beatrice,” Maitlis made the comments during the All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday.
“I remember Andrew pulling me aside while I was in the room and saying, ‘Emily, do you want to hear why I can’t sweat?’ I remember you saying. And I said ‘Yes’.”
In 2019, Andrew faced renewed scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein, who was arrested in July on sex trafficking charges in New York City. In August, Epstein was found dead in his prison cell; but the people’s Queen Elizabeth II. The demand for answers from Elizabeth’s second son became even more intense.
Court documents in the libel case between Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell have been unsealed, revealing Johanna Sjoberg’s allegations that Andrew groped her. It also included a photo of Andrew with his arm around Giuffre’s waist, with Maxwell at Maxwell’s home in London in the background.
Over the years, Andrew has consistently and forcefully denied any accusations of wrongdoing, including sexual abuse and misconduct. BBC news night But the interview was the first time Andrew’s denials had been aired in person, with claim after claim, along with lengthy and sometimes idiotic explanations of why they couldn’t be true.
Almost seven years later, Maitlis revealed the moment she learned in a private meeting with Andrew, Beatrice and producer Sam McAlister exactly how Andrew planned to defend himself.
“’Are you into adrenaline?’ he said. And I said, ‘Yes,'” Maitlis said in Sydney. “In our preliminary meeting, he told me about the adrenaline and sweating thing. He said, ‘So that’s my excuse… I’ll say it’.”
Giuffre, who died by suicide in April 2025, alleged that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times between 2001 (when she was 17) and 2002, on Little Saint James, Epstein’s private island in London in the US Virgin Islands, and at Epstein’s mansion in New York City.
She claimed that she was “perspiring profusely” and “drooping with sweat” while they were dancing together at a club in 2001, the night she claimed the first sexual assault took place.
Andrew told Maitlis as the cameras rolled: “I didn’t sweat at the time because I had suffered what I would describe as an adrenaline overdose when I was shot at in the Falklands War and… it was almost impossible for me to sweat.”
Although he told Maitlis days ago that he planned to tell Maitlis this as an excuse, Maitlis said he conducted the entire hour-long interview without telling him.
“I had this real dilemma because I knew he wanted to use that as an excuse,” Maitlis recalled. “So we get to the end of the hour and I say… ‘Is there anything you haven’t told us that you want to tell us now?’”
Maitlis said she “had a bit of a chat” with her private secretary Amanda Thirsk before sitting down in front of the camera.
In the final five minutes, Andrew went on the record to say he wasn’t in London the night Maitlis said she “almost killed” him, claimed he couldn’t sweat and that Giuffre attacked him because she was “at home with the kids.”
She claimed Andrew took Beatrice to Woking for a party at a Pizza Express restaurant; this was something he recalled “weirdly” as going to Pizza Express was “very unusual for me”.
“This will be what everyone will be talking about from now on, right?” Maitlis said he remembers thinking over and over that it was a prediction that came true.
“HE IS Sweating NOW” SunOn February 20, the day after the man now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on his 66th birthday on suspicion of abuse of public office, this stinging front page.
Released after 11 hours in police custody, Mountbatten-Windsor’s deadpan expression as she collapsed into the back of the Range Rover is now almost as infamous as the 2019 interview with Maitlis that triggered her downfall.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counseling Service at: 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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Bronte Gossling is a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAtoday and Brisbane Times.Connect via email.
